Costly activism: Ex-detainee Wafula Buke regrets over brother who became alcoholic

Wafula Buke during a demonstration. [Wafula Buke]

 

Former University of Nairobi student leader and ex-detainee Wafula Buke is regretting the role he played in the regression of his alcoholic kid brother who was buried on Tuesday. 

 Buke mourned his brother Ezekiel Wafula, 46, admitting his troubled life as a student leader in Nairobi destabilized his family, triggered the miseducation of his siblings, and eventual degeneration of some of them into ordinary and miserable drunks. 

 A dyed-in-the-wool activist, Buke was a student leader in the late 80’s when he was arrested over student politics of the days. He was jailed for years and later fled to Uganda.  

 “We buried my brother Ezekiel yesterday. The verdict of the congregation was that his life was a failure because the drink blocked his development and finally killed him. I disagree. Ezekiel himself, society, we the family failed him,” he wrote on his social media page on Wednesday. 

 When The Standard reached out to him, Buke admitted that the decision he took to lead an extraordinary life of courage and sacrifice had cost his family dearly.

 “My father lost his head when I was imprisoned. I think he had a lot of hopes in me when I went to the university, and he couldn’t come to terms with what had befallen me,” Buke said. 

He said since his father went bonkers- believing the world was coming to an end- a lot of things happened, besides kicking out his siblings from formal schooling. 

“He was a total disaster. We lost about eight of my siblings to one thing or the other, all relating to his condition. One broke a collar bone, and rather than take him to hospital, prayed to him until he died. Another had malaria they refused to take him to hospital, another contracted pneumonia they denied him medicine. Two others drank chang’aa to their graves like Ezekiel,” he said. 

Buke believes it was all because of the path he chose, as a person.

Wafula Buke's brother Ezekiel is laid to rest. [Wafula Buke]

 

“I chose a road which created a streak of casualties. If I stuck to the straight and the narrow, I could probably have become a D.O and I would be a top baron in town, with a string of stolen properties. They would probably be judges, because I would have taken them to school.” 

As for Ezekiel, Buke says he tried to correct the situation when he came back from prison, before he fled the country.  

 “After my imprisonment, I dragged him to school against my father's will…  at a family meeting on the matter, my father attempted to fight with me but I ran out. I was just 4 days old after my release from prison,” he says. 

 He then took his brother to local primary school and struck an agreement with the headteacher. Unfortunately, after 43 days later, Buke was back in government’s radar, and had to flee the country. 

 “That's how his education ended and put him on the road to self-destruction,” he mourned. 

Buke had a dramatic life as a student. In his first year in campus, Buke was already organising demos in solidarity with Libyans. At one time, he engineered a coup in student leadership and ousted Nduma Nderi, now a judge, installing himself the chair, albeit for a few hours. 

 “Prof Mbithi gave us 12 hours to step down and let the ‘elected’ Nduma rule. My colleagues backtracked. I went quiet. I have regretted this decision till now,” he once wrote. 

 By 1987, Buke was officially an enemy of state, arrested, tortured and imprisoned for “engaging in acts prejudicial to the interests of the Republic of Kenya.” 

In torture and prison, he fellowshipped with Maina wa Kinyati, Miguna Miguna, Oduor Ongwen and John Kiriamiti. He came out of prison with his rebellious streak intact and attempted to fight back the regression of his family, but it was probably too late.

In the late 90’s, Buke worked with Kenya Human Rights Commission under the wings of former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga. 

“We threatened to down tools as program officers. He told us to quit. I quit. My colleagues stayed on. I went hawking videotapes for two years.” 

During the grand coalition government, he worked briefly as a personal assistant of Deputy President William Ruto before he moved to the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) as director of research.

His last national assignment was at Orange House in 2019, where he served as director of political affairs and strategy of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), before he was sacked.  

“I ruffled snakes and have received my feedback,” he tweeted upon his sacking in September of that year. 

Earlier that May, he had caused quite a scene in South Africa. His party, ODM, had been invited by SA’s Democratic Alliance to observe that year’s elections. Mid the exercise, Buke dropped them and began heaping praises to African National Congress (ANC) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). 

Wafula Buke at the University of Nairobi. [Wafula Buke]

 

“Nobody can stop the EFF’s match to power in the near future. EFF is a movement, a spirit, a consuming fire without remedy, it is pan African, it is the reincarnation of our independence liberation struggle, it crashes everything in its way, its leaders have committed class suicide,” he posted on his social media pages while taking selfies at EFF rallies. 

The Democratic Alliance tried to do the unthinkable- expel him from the mission, but he stood his ground that he needed an all-sided view of the election. Abandoned by both his sponsor and his party, Buke coiled back and left SA on his own accord. 

At Orange House, there was never a dull moment with him. Back in 2014, he led a wing of party die-hards who evicted then Executive Director Magerer Lang’at and installed himself as the brand new executive director. 

For all the suffering, Buke was at the core of the team that was shepherding the truth process, and which aimed at burying the country’s shameful past through among other things reparations, public apology, and restoration of dignity of the victims. 

Unfortunately, the truth process was bogged down by infighting at the commission, with the facilitation of outside forces, and general government lethargy towards the implementation of the final report. 

“We tried to make something out of it, given it was the only opportunity availed. We did not succeed but we made a bit of progress. Our hope as victims of past injustices is that one day a much more receptive regime will come, and complete what we started,” he said. 

For now, the man who had high hopes of scoring justice and freedom for his country runs a “chain of kiosks”, as he calls them, in Bungoma. The three are hotel and restaurant businesses that sustain himself and his family. 

From there, he occasionally runs commentaries of national politics, often taking no prisoners. 

“My little brother, forgive me for my part in creating conditions that destroyed your father's mind who lost the ability to nurture you well,” he signed out his tribute to his brother, Ezekiel.